Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Two suicide bombers targeted the home of a senior officer with Pakistan's paramilitary force Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding 52.

The attacks took place in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta.

Brigadier Farrukh Shehzad, believed to be the target of the attacks, was injured in the blasts, said Tariq Manzoor, a senior Quetta police officials. Shehzad is a senior official in the Frontier Corps paramilitary force.

Among the dead were Shehzad's wife and six security personnel, he said. None of Shehzad's children were home at the time, as they had left for school before the incident, he said.

The first bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into security vehicles cars parked outside Shehzad's home, officials said. The second attacker, who was on foot, managed to enter the house, said Abdullah Afridi, a senior Quetta police official. When a security officer fired on him, the attacker blew himself up, Afridi said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks. A spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban, Ihsanullah Ihsan, said Shahzad was the target of the attack and expressed regret at the death of his wife. Ihsan said the attacks were retaliation for Shahzad's involvement in an operation against the group on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border last year. more